Kingdom of the Sea Folk

Merfolk are very popular in the mythology of the Pikae Islands. Stories of them range from romantic fantasies of shipwreck victims rescued by beautiful fish-maids to snarling, violent sirens who drag sailors to their doom. The most systematic of these mythologies are the stories written by Naylor Scott, who claims to have been rescued by merfolk and lived with them for several years.

Summary

The earliest recorded stories of sea-folk or merfolk date from before the founding of Westerheim. The art and carvings found in the Pikaen Sea Caves are estimated by scholars to be at least 1500 years old and are of unknown techniques and materials. Many of these carvings depict humans interacting with sea-bound creatures with the upper bodies of humans and the tails of fish. Some carvings, especially those in the Kriata Caves, show these creatures shedding their tails and joining humans on land, suggesting stories of shapeshifters or magical transformations.

Historical Basis

Some of the artistic motifs present in the cave paintings reflect those found in some of the fishing villages which line the human side of the islands. Whether this indicates a cultural exchange between humans and merfolk or simply that ancestors of the Islenya people produced the carvings is disputed by scholars.
The Islenya themselves hold that their ancestors were the merfolk, those who fell in love with humans and abandoned their homes under the sea. Islenya record-keeping is thorough and some of the oldest notations simply say "sea-born" for certain marriages, which the Islenya believe means these people came from the merfolk.

Related Ethnicities